Food and Beverage Retaining Assembly

ABSTRACT

A food and beverage retaining assembly having in combination a serving plate and a removable, baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle, wherein the beverage receptacle is mechanically interlocked with the serving plate, and further wherein the beverage receptacle is incapable of standing upright on a horizontal surface while retaining liquid unless connected to the serving plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of food and beverageretaining assemblies of the type comprising in combination a servingplate for retention of food and a beverage holder for retention of aliquid, the structure of which enables the user to hold both the servingplate and the beverage holder in one hand, such that food may be takenfrom the serving plate by the free hand, and further wherein thebeverage holder can be separated from and replaced onto the servingplate by the free hand.

Food and drink are often served at gatherings where seating is limitedor non-existent, such as for example cocktail parties, tailgatingevents, outdoor parties of the like. Typically, the attendees areprovided with plates or trays, often smaller than typical dinner plates,on which to place food and separate, self-standing beverage holders,such as glasses, cups, mugs, and wine glasses or similar stemware. Inorder to eat an item from the plate, the user must put down the beverageholder on a flat surface, carefully balance the beverage holder on anempty portion of the plate, or attempt to hold both plate and beverageholder in one hand in order to free up one hand to grasp the food. Thismay often result in spilling of the beverage, the food or both. Toaddress this problem two main approaches have been pursued. In the firstsolution, the plate is provided with a beverage holder receivingstructure, such as a short annular wall extending upward from the platesurface into which the circular base or bottom of the beverage holder isplaced. The wall limits lateral movement of the beverage holder on theplate in order to stabilize the beverage holder. This solution is notoptimal in that the beverage holder receiving structure reduces the areaon the plate available to receive food, does not work well when thediameter of the base or bottom of the beverage holders is significantlysmaller than the diameter of the beverage holder receiving structure,and does not work at all with beverage holders having diameters greaterthan the beverage holder receiving structures, and in particular doesnot work well with stemware beverage holders having a high center ofgravity, such as for example a full wine glass or champagne flute. Sincewith these devices the beverage holder is not secured to the plate, theuser must support the bottom of the plate or hold the edge of the platewhile continuously maintaining careful balance of the plate to avoidtipping the beverage holder.

A second solution is to provide the plate with an edge slot or acircular aperture, within the interior or extending from the edge, toreceive the beverage holder. The edge slot is sized to receive thelaterally-inserted small diameter stem of the stemware such that thelarger upper beverage retaining portion of the beverage holder restsupon the top surface of the plate. In the aperture version, the apertureis only suitable with a beverage holder having a tapered or curved walllarger than its base, since the aperture must be sized to allow the baseof the beverage holder to pass through while precluding the largerdiameter upper portion of the beverage holder from passing completelythrough the circular aperture. Both of these designs significantlyreduce the available area for food, cannot be used with beverage holdershaving a straight wall or a base larger than the upper beverageretaining portion, such as a champagne flute, will not allow differentbeverage holders to be used with a single plate, and presentcombinations with low stability.

It is an object of this invention to provide a food and beverageretaining assembly comprising in combination a serving platemechanically interlocked with a releasable, baseless, stemmed beveragereceptacle that effectively addresses the problems inherent in the plateand beverage holder combinations described above, wherein the combinedplate and beverage receptacle does not significantly reduce the areaavailable on the plate to receive food, can be used with beveragereceptacles having upper beverage retaining portions of any shape orstyle, provides a stable and secure combination wherein the beveragereceptacle is removably and replaceably mechanically interlocked withthe plate, such that user can hold the combined plate and beveragereceptacle by holding either the plate or the upper beverage retainingportion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In brief summary, the invention in various embodiments is a food andbeverage retaining assembly comprising the combination of a servingplate, a removable, baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle, and asecurement fitting assembly, wherein the beverage receptacle ismechanically interlocked or mated with the serving plate in a mannerthat allows the beverage receptacle to be repeatedly removed andreplaced without requiring the serving plate to be placed onto ahorizontal surface. The beverage receptacle comprises an upper beverageretaining portion joined to a neck or stem. The upper beverage retainingportion may have various shapes and sizes, similar to the beverageretaining portions of stemmed beverage holders (e.g., wine glasses,champagne flutes, martini glasses) and non-stemmed beverage holders(e.g., cups, glasses, mugs). The plate comprises an upper surface tosupport food and, in a preferred embodiment, a stem receptacle orreceiving socket extending upwardly from the upper surface which isstructured to mechanically interlock with the free insertion end of thestem, the insertion end of the stem having a securement memberstructured to mechanically interlock with corresponding mating structureof the stem socket on the serving plate. Together the stem securementmember and the stem socket define a securement fitting assembly suchthat the plate secures and retains the beverage receptacle. In analternative embodiment, the beverage receptacle stem may be providedwith a receiving socket and the serving plate provided with a postmember to be received in the receiving socket.

In a preferred embodiment, the stem socket comprises an annular wallhaving a substantially L-shaped slot with a vertical segment extendingto the upper surface of the annular wall and a horizontal segmentextending along or within the annular wall. The securement member of thestem comprises a radially extending protrusion, such as a tab, post,pin, or the like, sized to fit within the L-shaped slot. Such a matingsecurement combination is often referred to as a bayonet coupling orfitting. To secure the beverage receptacle to the serving plate, thestem tab is aligned with the upper opening of the L-shaped slot, thestem is pushed downward into the annular wall of the stem socket, andthe stem is rotated such that the tab is moved laterally into thehorizontal segment. In this manner the beverage receptacle is secured tothe serving plate and relative vertical movement is precluded. To removethe beverage receptacle from the serving plate, the stem is rotated inthe opposite direction such that the tab is aligned with the verticalsegment and the beverage receptacle is moved upwardly away from theserving plate so as to clear the stem socket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the inventionwherein a baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle is mated with a servingplate.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showingthe insertion end and securement member, wherein the securement memberis a tab.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an alternative embodiment for thesecurement member, wherein the securement member is a pin.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an alternative embodiment for thesecurement member, wherein the securement member is a pair of shortscrew threads.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the serving plate of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the stem socket of FIG. 1 illustratingthe L-shaped slot.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6illustrating the vertical segment of the L-shaped slot.

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 6illustrating the horizontal segment and retention shoulder of theL-shaped slot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As used herein, the term “serving plate” shall refer to any dinnerplate, cocktail plate, party plate, or any similar tray device of anyshape and size easily supported in one hand and structured to receivefood thereon. The term “beverage receptacle” as used in herein shallrefer to a baseless, stemmed receptacle for liquid having an upperbeverage retaining portion joined to a neck or stem, preferablyelongated, of much smaller transverse dimension or cross-section thanthe upper beverage retaining portion. The term “baseless” shall meanthat the beverage receptacle lacks a physical structure capable ofmaintaining the beverage receptacle in an upright, liquid-retainingposition on a horizontal surface. Thus, the baseless, stemmed beveragereceptacle, when removed from the serving plate, cannot be placed onto asurface in the upright position, i.e., it cannot stand on its own. Theterm “mechanically interlocked” or its variations shall refer to aphysical interconnection of mating structures, such as for example a taband a slot, a pin or post and a slot, a short screw threading, or thelike, as opposed to the joining of two objects by a friction fit. Theterm “securement fitting assembly” shall refer to a combination ofphysical structures present on the serving plate and the stem of thebeverage receptacle that enable the beverage receptacle to be releasablymechanically interlocked with the serving plate.

The invention will now be described in detail in combination with thedrawings. In general, the invention in various embodiments is a food andbeverage retaining assembly comprising the combination of a servingplate 10 and a removable, baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle 20, asshown in FIG. 1, wherein the beverage receptacle 20 is removably orreleasably mechanically interlocked with the serving plate 10 by asecurement fitting assembly 30. As shown in FIG. 2, the beveragereceptacle 20 comprises an upper beverage retaining portion 21 joined toa neck or stem 22, the stem 22 being of significantly narrower diameterthan the upper beverage retaining portions 21 and preferably elongatedso as to raise the bottom of the upper beverage retaining portion 21 toallow for more food to be placed onto the serving plate 10 beneath theupper beverage retaining portion 21, with the upper beverage retainingportion 21 being of suitable volume in order to retain a quantity ofliquid. The upper beverage retaining portion 21 may have various shapesand sizes, and may be similar to the beverage retaining portions oftypical stemmed beverage holders (e.g., wine glasses, champagne flutes,martini glasses) and typical non-stemmed beverage holders (e.g., cups,glasses, mugs). The plate 10, as shown in FIG. 6, comprises an uppersurface 11 to support food and a stem receptacle or socket 31 positionedon the upper surface 11. The dimensions of the food and beverageretaining assembly may vary, and the food and beverage retainingassembly may be formed of plastic, metal, glass, ceramic or any othersuitable material. The food and beverage retaining assembly comprisingmay be designed for single use, i.e., disposable, or for multiple usesafter cleaning.

In the preferred embodiment, the stem socket 31 is structured tomechanically interlock with the insertion end 23 of the stem 22, theinsertion end 23 of the stem 22 having a securement member 24 structuredto mechanically interlock with the stem socket 31 on the serving plate10. Together the stem securement member 24 and the stem socket 31 definea securement fitting assembly 30 that allows the beverage receptacle 20to be readily disengaged from and reengaged with the serving plate 10while eating and drinking.

As shown in FIGS. 7-9, the stem socket 31 comprises an annular wall 32defining a central recess or bore 33. A substantially L-shaped slot 34is disposed on the interior of or extending through the annular wall 32,the L-shaped slot 34 having a vertical segment 35 extending to the uppersurface of the annular wall 32, as shown in FIG. 8, and a horizontalsegment 36 extending along or within the annular wall 32, as shown inFIG. 9. The horizontal segment 36 defines a retention shoulder 37 thatprecludes vertical movement of the stem securement member 24. Thehorizontal segment 36 should be of a length which precludes furtherrotation of the securement member 24 once the securement member 24 issubstantially or fully positioned beneath the retention shoulder 37 asufficient distance to preclude vertical movement, as any excessextension of the horizontal segment 36 would make removal of thebeverage receptacle 20 more difficult to accomplish. A maximum rotationof 90 degrees or less, and preferably of 45 degrees or less, is suitablefor the purpose. Alternative configurations for the slot 34 may also beutilized, such as incorporating curves or angles other than 90 degrees.

The securement member 24 of the stem 22 comprises a radially extendingprotrusion, such as a tab, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, or a post or pin,as shown in FIG. 4. The tab, pin, post, or similarly structuredsecurement member 24 is sized to fit within the L-shaped slot 34, and isreferred to hereafter collectively as a tab 24. Such a securementfitting assembly 30 is often referred to as a bayonet coupling orfitting. To secure the beverage receptacle 20 to the serving plate 10,the stem 22 of the beverage receptacle 20 is aligned with the stemsocket 31 and the stem tab 24 is aligned with the upper opening of thevertical segment 35 of the L-shaped slot 34. The stem 22 is pusheddownward into the annular wall 32 of the stem socket 31 and the stem 22is rotated such that the tab 24 is moved into the horizontal segment 36of the L-shaped slot 34 such that relative vertical movement isprecluded by the retention shoulder 37, thereby securing the beveragereceptacle 20 to the serving plate 10. The outer diameter of the stem 22should be slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the stem socket 31such that excessive friction does not occur between the stem 22 and thesocket 31. In this manner, with the beverage receptacle 20 mated withthe serving plate 10, the user only needs one hand to hold both theplate 10 and the drinking receptacle 20. To remove the beveragereceptacle 20 from the serving plate 10, the user grasps or supports theserving plate 10 with one hand and grasps the beverage receptacle 20with the other. The stem 22 is rotated in the opposite direction suchthat the tab 24 becomes re-aligned with the vertical segment 35,allowing upward movement of the stem 22 and separation of the beveragereceptacle 20 from the serving plate 10. Once removed from the plate 10,the baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle 20 cannot be placed onto ahorizontal surface, as the insertion end 23 of the stem 22 is unsuitableto support the beverage retaining portion 21.

Alternatively, it is understood that other mechanical interlockingdesigns and structures are possible for the securement fitting assembly,such as for example the use of one or more mating helical threadsegments disposed on the insertion end 23 of the stem 22, as shown inFIG. 5, with corresponding grooves on the annular wall 32 of the stemsocket 31. Furthermore, the securement fitting assembly 30 may bereversed, such that for example insertion end 23 of the stem 22 isprovided with a socket structure and the serving plate 10 is providedwith an upwardly extending post and a lateral tab.

With this structure, the beverage receptacle 20 is secured to theserving plate 10 in an easily releasable and replaceable manner, suchthat when the user desires to drink from the beverage receptacle 20, itis removed by rotating the beverage receptacle 20 and separating it fromthe serving plate 10. When a free hand is needed to remove food from theserving plate 10 or load food onto the serving plate 10, the beveragereceptacle 20 is re-mounted onto the serving plate 10 as described.Because of the secure connection between the beverage receptacle 20 andthe serving plate 10, the user may hold the combined assembly by theholding the underside of the upper beverage retaining portion 21 of thebeverage receptacle 20 in addition to being able to hold the combinedassembly by grasping the edge or supporting the bottom of the plate 10.

A mechanical interlocking design is preferable to a friction-fit designfor several reasons. With a mechanical interlock design manufacturingdoes not have to be as precise, as the tolerances between the matingstructures can be much greater than is possible for friction-fitstructures. Securing and releasing the beverage receptacle 20 from theserving plate 10 is easier with a relatively looser mechanical interlock(turn and lift or insert and turn) than with a friction-fit (highresistance to both insertion and removal). Additionally, after multipleremovals and insertions a friction-fit may become inadequate due towearing, which can lead to accidental separation of the serving plate 10when the user holds the combined device by the beverage receptacle 20.

It is contemplated that equivalents and substitutions for elementsdescribed above may be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art,and therefore the true scope and definition of the invention is to be asset forth in the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A food and beverage retaining assembly comprising thecombination of: a serving plate; a baseless, stemmed beveragereceptacle; and a securement fitting assembly; wherein the beveragereceptacle is releasably joined to the serving plate by the securementfitting assembly using a mechanical interlock.
 2. The food and beverageretaining assembly of claim 1, wherein the beverage receptacle comprisesan upper beverage retaining portion and a stem having an insertion end.3. The food and beverage retaining assembly of claim 2, wherein thesecurement fitting assembly comprises a socket disposed on the servingplate; wherein the socket comprises an annular wall which receives theinsertion end of the stem.
 4. The food and beverage retaining assemblyof claim 3, wherein a securement member is disposed on the insertion endof the stem and a slot is disposed on the annular wall of the socket,and wherein the securement member is received by the slot.
 5. The foodand beverage retaining assembly of claim 4, wherein the securementmember comprises a tab and the slot is L-shaped, the slot having avertical segment joined to a horizontal segment.
 6. The food andbeverage retaining assembly of claim 5, wherein the vertical segment ofthe slot extends to the top of the annular wall and the horizontalsegment of the slot defines a retention shoulder: such that the beveragereceptacle is secured to the serving plate by inserting the insertionend of the beverage receptacle into the socket of the serving plate withthe tab aligned with the vertical segment of the slot, and rotating thebeverage receptacle such that the tab is disposed within the horizontalsegment of the slot and precluded from vertical movement by theretention shoulder.
 7. The food and beverage retaining assembly of claim1, wherein the securement member comprises a tab member and a sockethaving an annular wall and a slot, such that the tab member is disposedwithin the slot when the beverage receptacle is connected to the servingplate.
 8. A food and beverage retaining assembly comprising thecombination of: a serving plate; a baseless, stemmed beveragereceptacle; and a securement fitting assembly; wherein the beveragereceptacle is releasably joined to the serving plate by the securementfitting assembly using a mechanical interlock; and wherein the beveragereceptacle is incapable of standing upright on a horizontal surfacewhile retaining liquid unless connected to the serving plate.
 9. Thefood and beverage retaining assembly of claim 8, wherein the beveragereceptacle comprises an upper beverage retaining portion and a stemhaving an insertion end.
 10. The food and beverage retaining assembly ofclaim 9, wherein the securement fitting assembly comprises a socketdisposed on the serving plate; wherein the socket comprises an annularwall which receives the insertion end of the stem.
 11. The food andbeverage retaining assembly of claim 10, wherein a securement member isdisposed on the insertion end of the stem and a slot is disposed on theannular wall of the socket, and wherein the securement member isreceived by the slot.
 12. The food and beverage retaining assembly ofclaim 11, wherein the securement member comprises a tab, pin or post andthe slot is L-shaped, the slot having a vertical segment joined to ahorizontal segment.
 13. The food and beverage retaining assembly ofclaim 12, wherein the vertical segment of the slot extends to the top ofthe annular wall and the horizontal segment of the slot defines aretention shoulder: such that the beverage receptacle is secured to theserving plate by inserting the insertion end of the beverage receptacleinto the socket of the serving plate with the tab aligned with thevertical segment of the slot, and rotating the beverage receptacle suchthat the tab is disposed within the horizontal segment of the slot andprecluded from vertical movement by the retention shoulder.
 14. The foodand beverage retaining assembly of claim 8, wherein the securementmember comprises a tab member and a socket having an annular wall and aslot, such that the tab member is disposed within the slot when thebeverage receptacle is connected to the serving plate.
 15. A food andbeverage retaining assembly comprising the combination of: a servingplate; a baseless, stemmed beverage receptacle, wherein the beveragereceptacle comprises an upper beverage retaining portion and a stemhaving an insertion end, and wherein the beverage receptacle isincapable of standing upright on a horizontal surface while retainingliquid unless connected to the serving plate; a securement fittingassembly, wherein the securement fitting assembly comprises a socketdisposed on the serving plate, and wherein the socket comprises anannular wall which receives the insertion end of the stem; wherein thebeverage receptacle is mechanically interlocked to the serving plate bythe securement fitting assembly.
 16. The food and beverage retainingassembly of claim 15, wherein a securement member is disposed on theinsertion end of the stem and a slot is disposed on the annular wall ofthe socket, and wherein the securement member is received by the slot.17. The food and beverage retaining assembly of claim 16, wherein thesecurement member comprises a tab, pin or post and the slot is L-shaped,the slot having a vertical segment joined to a horizontal segment. 18.The food and beverage retaining assembly of claim 17, wherein thevertical segment of the slot extends to the top of the annular wall andthe horizontal segment of the slot defines a retention shoulder: suchthat the beverage receptacle is secured to the serving plate byinserting the insertion end of the beverage receptacle into the socketof the serving plate with the tab aligned with the vertical segment ofthe slot, and rotating the beverage receptacle such that the tab isdisposed within the horizontal segment of the slot and precluded fromvertical movement by the retention shoulder.